[caccobra]

Courtesy inspections in CT, as I understand it, only apply for a vehicle that you already own and have registered out of state and wish to now register In CT. Like if you move here and bring the car with you. It does not apply to a car that you just bought or you already have registered in CT. I wish that had been an option in 2007 when I wanted to register another component car. It would have saved me a lot of grief with the DMV then.

I beg to differ about the inspectors in Wethersfield. Most I have encountered are certainly not car guys and some can be very rude. I had reams of documentation and copies of the law the first time I went there and it made no difference to them. When I registered my Noble in 2007, amongst other crazy claims, they tried to accuse me of having an illegal title from the state I was moving from where it had been registered, simply because it didn’t have a 17 digit VIN number on it. Some states are not like CT and actually use the manufacturer’s VIN regardless of the number of digits as was the case for my car. In that case I had to get a person with high level connections in the state to intervene on my behalf just so I could register my car.

The truth of the matter is some of the inspectors there clearly don’t like their jobs (except for the pension?) and are on a power trip there. That type of inspector loves to reject cars for stupid reasons knowing that the owner will have to go through the hassle of trailering the car back there again. This time around, when I went there the first time with the Cobra in early November, the guy refused to even inspect my car after peeking at it in the trailer, simply because it didn’t have their preferred cheap seat belts in it. I told him, look, you have to know that even if it had those seat belts in it when you inspect it, they will be replaced with exactly what you see in it now as soon as a car like this leaves this place. For him it was black and white. That’s how they think.

So I waited and went back on Christmas Eve knowing they would probably have people there then who would be more interested in getting home than spending a lot of time looking at cars and hoping the first guy I ran into wouldn’t be there. I was right, it sailed right through and that inspector this time never once looked at the seat belts. All he wanted to see was the VIN on the frame, a cursory look in the engine compartment and at the chassis underneath while on the hoist and I was out of there with the inspection approval in about 10 minutes. Exactly how it should have gone the first time IMO just because the Superformance cars are so well built to begin with. You don’t have to be a master mechanic to be able to see that either.

It’s a crap shoot every time I have been to Wethersfield and it is always an adventure if you get one of the jerks like I did more often than not. A little courtesy toward the vehicle owners would go a long way toward making it a more pleasant experience for all involved. There is a big difference between “just doing my job” and doing a job well. Something that seems to be lost on most public servants these days, especially in a state like CT where they don’t feel they work for the people.